About Old Gods
Overview
Old Gods of Appalachia is an eldritch horror anthology podcast set in the darkest mountains in the world. Our world is an alternate Appalachia, where these mountains were never meant to be inhabited.
Long before anyone lived in these hills, beings of immeasurable darkness and incomprehensible madness were entombed here. It was during this bygone age, when the Appalachians towered much higher and more menacing than the gentle slopes and ridges we know today, that they were conscripted after a great battle to serve as the final prison for those dark forces. But of course, time marches inexorably on. Eons passed and the walls of the prison begin to wear thin. And Things that slumbered soundlessly below for millennia began to stir and become restless.
They began to call to those who would hear them.
To dig. To seek and find. To follow and serve. To keep this dark and bloody land for themselves and their masters.
Alternate Geography
Old Gods is set in an alternate or shadow Appalachia. Our stories pass through hundreds of years of its history. This world feels eerily similar to the hills and hollers we’ve grown up with, but there are some tell-tale differences. The names of towns and counties may be altered. Historical events slide forward or backward in time.
The characters depicted in this podcast are fictional. Any resemblance to actual persons is purely coincidental or the will of darker forces that we do not understand.
Creators
Steve Shell
Co-Creator • Writer • Episode Art Designer • Voice of the Narrator and Countless Others
Steve Shell grew up in Wise County, Virginia right by Bear Creek Reservoir on top of Coeburn Mountain. For 29 years Steve lived and wrote in those mountains while completing two BAs at the University of Virginia's College at Wise in mass communications and English literature. Steve has been fixated on the occult and supernatural happenings since childhood and has been called a devil worshiper enough times to prove it. Steve currently lives in Asheville, North Carolina where he taught high school English for sixteen years and was a host and main stage performer for The Moth StorySLAM from 2015-2020. Steve was nationally ranked slam poet for a long time and also does really nerdy stuff like playing in the Society for Creative Anachronism where he studies and teaches medieval bardic traditions and produces The Knowne World Bardcast, a podcast focused on the music and oral traditions of medieval reenactors.
Cam Collins
Co-Creator • Writer • Voice of D.L. Walker, Deeley Hubbard, Miss Lavinia, and Babylon
Cam Collins is a native of Wise, Virginia, where she cut her teeth on the creepy folklore of the region. A lover of all things that go bump in the night and dyed-in-the-wool spooky bitch, Cam also produced and co-hosted Appalachian Arcana, a podcast featuring regional stories of folklore, true crime, cryptids and other general weirdness. She worked as a graphic designer and programmer in her life before OGoA, and holds degrees in English (BA, University of Virginia at Wise) and Speech Communication (MA, University of Georgia). Cam currently resides in Bristol, TN/VA, with her partner and their cats, dog, and snake.